This blog is a collaborative collection of the stuff we all make at home, and want to share. We share sewing, baking, craft stuff, home decorator projects, sculpting, painting, gardening, photography, scrapbooking, music, and anything else we want to throw down for viewing or listening (whether we consider it a success or not).

Saturday, September 15, 2007

What I've Been Up To Lately.....

So every so often I get an itch to create stuff to sell. My latest nudge came from a moms' group that I belong to. They decided to host a "vendor sale" in November for all the moms who have at-home businesses to come and peddle their wares. I don't actually have an at-home craft business, but seeing as how I can't exactly peddle my actual at-home business of piano & voice lessons at a vendor sale, I just made one up. And voila! "Trinkets and Trappings" was born. (Yeah, the fact that I had to come up with a name was kind of lame since I don't plan on this being a regular thing, but they wanted something to call my table at the sale. And "Nicole's Crafty Stuff" didn't sound like it would draw in many shoppers. So, I went to the on-line thesaurus to look up synonyms for "jewelry" and "accessories" then picked two that would make an alliterative title. Anyhoo....)

The thing I've been making lately for this sale is kiddie aprons & smocks. I actually have 3 styles, but one was a little too complicated to photograph well for this forum. So I'm giving you the two easier styles. The first is this two-sided beauty. They're both reverseable, with the inside fabric being the same as the pocket I attached. The ties come out the side seams, so it can be put on with the blue side facing out or the Winnie the Pooh toile facing out and the ties will work exactly the same. This one was made with a full back. So it's not only reverseable inside-out, but you could actually put it on backwards and it would fit exactly the same. These were both made to fit 12-24-month-olds, so it looks like a real shorty-smock on my 4 1/2 year-old, but you get the idea. On the right-size kid, the hem should hit somewhere in the mid-thigh-to-knee range. To make either of these, make a pattern out of newspaper (you could trace a tank top, then add another 6 inches to the bottom that flare out at the sides. Hold the pattern up to your kid before you cut the material so you can make changes to it if necessary.)

Cut out two pieces of each fabric, then sew the matching pieces, right sides together, at the shoulder seams. I should mention that I picked a cute cotton print fabric and a heavier canvas or denim fabric for the other side, just so the apron would actually have a chance at being thick enough to catch whatever is spilled on it. My sister said that there is also some sort of scotch guarding/waterproofing stuff you can buy to treat the fabric, so I might look into that, too. Ok...back to the instructions: Cut a rectangle of the fancier fabric, and turn the edges in with an iron if you want a pocket for the other side. Stitch the top of the pocket or sew bias tape over the raw edge. Pin the two one-sided smocks together at the shoulder seams (still right sides together), then pin down each side and at the hem. Once it's pinned, cut 4 lengths of ribbon (about a foot long each) and slip them inside the smock (2 in the front half and 2 in the back.) Pin them so they hit at the wait of the apron . The ribbons should be inside the smock, with just enough sticking out each side so you can sew it securely into the side seams, and so you can see that the ribbons line up on the two sides when you fold the smock flat in half.

Stitch the entire way around the outside of the smock. Use the open neckline to turn it inside-out. Iron the smock flat and pin the sides and neckline. Top-stitch the entire way around the outside of the smock, then stitch around the edge of the neckline. Pin bias tape over the neckline seam and stitch that in place. Go have an ice cream sundae. You deserve it!